A man accused of running a company called “America’s Foreclosure Defense” and preying on elderly and vulnerable people has been ordered to pay $181,266 in restitution and fines to the state, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced today.

The man, Sherron L. Lewis, Jr., 54, has also been permanently barred from providing foreclosure-relief services.

Lewis was accused in a civil suit filed by the attorney general of filing frivolous lawsuits that clogged the courts. Suthers alleged that Lewis used deceptive and misleading schemes that he claimed would stop the foreclosure process.

Suthers said Lewis had no legal experience, had improperly raked in thousands of dollars of upfront fees from his alleged victims and had “grossly misused and abused the judicial system.”

The $181,266 judgment against Lewis was ordered after he failed to respond to the state’s lawsuit over his allegedly illegal foreclosure-relief activities.

A Jefferson County district court judge had previously ordered Lewis to pay more than $76,000 in restitution to his victims in August, including an elderly Illinois woman, said Suthers.

The fines ordered against Lewis in August stemmed from his alleged practice of collecting upfront fees and acquiring an interest in his victims’ properties as part of his services, both of which violated Colorado law, according to the attorney general.

Suthers alleged that Lewis attracted clients through his website and direct mail.

One of his pamphlets, the lawsuit alleged, states: “COLORADO JUDGES, THE STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ALL MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE NOW!!!…Lenders foreclosing in the state of Colorado have been breaking the LAW and the courts have been looking the other way!!!”

Last month, Denver’s Department of Safety fired a deputy sheriff for using racial slurs and harassing inmates and a police sergeant for drinking while in uniform and abandoning a post to have sex with a woman.

A wedding and special events’ planning business has agreed to pay a $200,000 settlement to five employees living in the country illegally after allegedly failing to pay them minimum wages and overtime and discriminating against them because of their race.